Last week I shared that I started a juice cleanse, in the hopes of healing a few health issues that I've been having. Yesterday marked one full week and I wanted to share how it's going. The good news - it's easier than I expected it to be. I had feared a heavy dose of hanger, but thankfully I haven't been too hungry and my irritability has been minimal.

But let's back up - I want to talk a minute about what I've been eating (drinking?) this week, before I get into what I felt like. I stuck to my plan of Juice, Clear Liquids and Tea for the most part. I did have a few wild berries that Serial brought home from his Parkway Excursion - I just ate them raw and didn't juice them. I roasted some butternut squash and pureed it, to add to my broth one day. And I ate two cherry Lara Bars when I was stuck on a conference call for work and my stomach yelled at me to feed it.

This is what my typical day looked like:

Hourly - 32 oz of water

7am - 32 oz of juice, 1 cup of tea with lemon

10am - 16-24 oz of juice, 1 cup of tea with lemon

1pm - 16-24 oz of juice

3pm - 1 cup of tea with lemon

5pm - vegan broth

7pm - 16 oz of juice (some days I skipped this)

If you're thinking that 32 oz of water every hour sounds like a lot, it is. But honestly, if I didn't drink a ton of water I would get a headache and feel dizzy. When I drank water, I felt good. And full. It's a good thing I work from home because I have to pee 2-3 times an hour. Not kidding.Speaking of how I felt, here's the truth of it:

Days 1 and 2 - I felt invincible and awesome. I was excited to get started and hopefully start feeling better. My energy was good and my focus was solid.

Days 3 and 4 - My energy was still good, but the initial feelings of excitement had worn off a little and I was feeling doubtful that I'd be able to do this for a full week, let alone two. These days were a mental battle, more than a physical one.

Day 5 - I felt mostly good and my determination/positivity had returned, but I would get headaches and felt dizzy from time to time. Usually if I wasn't keeping up with my water. At first I thought that my dizziness was lack of food, but water was what truly made me feel better.

Days 6 and 7 - I was used to the diet and mentally I was ready to do this for another week. The main challenge I had was that I needed more sleep than I'm used to. I think my body is going through a detox, because I do feel different and better, but my body is trying to heal and needs sleep to do so. So be it. Thankfully these days fell on the weekend and I'm able to give in to my sleepiness.

I've decided to continue with a juice diet for another week, but I will be making a few small changes because I don't know if I can mentally handle another week of the exact same thing. Physically, sure. Mentally, I fear for those around me ;-)

I'm going to add in raw kelp noodles to my broth. I'm going to have raw kale salad, if I am craving something of substance. I'm going to blend frozen bananas into an ice cream like treat, on the days that I'm missing sweets. I considered adding in a raw food dinner, and doing juice the rest of the day, but now I'm thinking that will be my approach for week 3, I'll see how it goes. My goal is just to feel better, so I'll listen to my body and take it one day at a time.

So that's the truth of it - anyone else out there doing any kind of cleanse? How's it going?

Thanks for the detailed updates. I teach so this may be more of a summer thing to try for me.

On a side note I am adding your blog to the Resources section of my blog because I feel that our blogs have a lot in common. I look forward to reading your upcoming posts and sorting through the older ones on here already.

You're welcome! I think it would be tough as a teacher to do this during the school year - the need to pee every 30 minutes alone would make it challenging!

Thanks for adding us to your blog! I'll add you to a similar section on our site.

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Update! Life has become busy in a great way, so we don't have a lot of time for blogging these days. We've left the site up as a reference, and we do check our blog emails whenever we can, but we are no longer actively posting or commenting. Thanks for understanding and have a wonderful day!

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I'm a Chicago girl who loves the outdoors and everything DIY. He's an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker and addicted to nature. Follow us as we share our experiences with home projects, recipes and hiking with our energetic Weimaraner, Rooney.